Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-03-25
X IN G
Solomon 5 Mines.

Still we did not halt though by this time
we should have been glad enough to do 50,
for we knew that when once the sun was
fully up it would be almost impossible Tor
US to travel in it. At length. about six
O'Clock, we spiei a little pile of rocks rising
out of the plain, and to this we dragged our
selves As luck would have il, here we iouno
an overhanging slab of rock carpetcd be
meath with smooth sand, which afforded
most grateful shelter from the heat. Under
meath this we crept, and having drank some
water each and eaten bit Of blltong, we
Law down and were soon sound asleep.
IL was three O'Clock in the afternoon be
fore we woke to find our three bearers pre-
pairing to return. They had already mao
enough of the desert, and no number OF
knives would have tempted them to come
step further SO we had hearty drink, anc
having emptied oar water bottles, filled
them up again from the gourds they had
brought with them, and then watched then
depart on their twenty miles tramp home.
At haf-past four we also started on. l.
was lonely and desOlate work, for with the
exception of few Ostriches there was not q
single living creature 10 be seen on all the
vast eXpanse OF sandy plain. 1t was evident
~ too dry for game, and with the exception
Of a deadly-OOking cobra or two we saw nc
reptiles. One insect however, was abun
,lant, and that was the common or house
fly There they came, mot as single spies.
kut in battalions," as think the Old Iesta
lncnt saws somewhere He is an cXtraOrdi-
nary animal is the hOusc-ilY. Go where yon
will you find him, and so it must always
have been. | have seen him inclosed in
amber, which must, | was told, have been
half million years old, looking exactly Ike
his descendants of to-day, and have little
doubt but that when the last man lies dying
on the earth lac will be buzzing romd-ii
that event should happen to occur In sum.
mcr- watching for an opportunity to settle
on his nose.
At sunset we halted, waiting for the moon
to rise. At ten she came up beautifully and
serene rs ever aud with one halt about two
O'Clock ia the morning. we trudged YEARLY
OH through the night, till mt last the welcome
sun put 4 period to our Iabors. We drank .
Lutte aud flung ourselves down, thoroughly
tired ont. on the sand, and we were soon all
a,irep. There was no need to set Il watch,
tor wc had nothing to fear from anybody or
anything in that vast untcnaut2d plain. Our
only enemies were heat, thirst, and flies, but
far rather would have faced any danger
from man or beast than that awful trinity.
This time we were not So Iucsy rs 50 find Il
shrItring rock To- guard us from the glare OF
the sun. with tine result that about seven
o'clock We woke mp cNprr ruclHE the exact
sens lions one would attribute 10 a bretstcak
on 4 gtidiron We were literally being
baked through and through. The burning
sun seemed to he sucking our very blood out
Of MS We sat up an gasped
'Phcw." said l. grabbing at the halo of
..4t..
heat The heat dId not affect them.
MY wordN said Sir Henry.
at Is hotr said Good.
1t was hot, indeed and there was not bit
OF shelter 10 be bad Look where we would
there was no rock or tree, nothing hut an
uncndng glare, rendered dazzling by the
hot air which dane ri over the hot surface of
the desert as it docs over Il redhot stove.
"What is to be donr?' asked SIR Henry
eve can't stand this for long"
We looked Mt each other blankly.
II have it," said Good, I'VE must dig u
hole and get in 1t and cover ourselves with
karuO bushes"
1t did n,r seem very promising suggcs-
ton but at least IL was better than nothing,
80 we set 10 work, and with the trowcl ""
had brought with Us and our hands succeed
ed in about an hour in d"lying out Il patch oi
ground about ten feet long by twelve wiuc
to the depth of two feet. Then we cut q
quantity of low scrub with our hunting
knives, and creeping into the hole pulled I
over us all, with the exception Of Ncntyogcl
on whom, being "A IEOtteutOt, the sun had nc
particular effect This gave us some slight
shelter from the burning rays Of the sun, bu
the heat IN that amateur grave can be better
Imagined than described. The Black Hole
OF Calcutta must have been fool to it; in
deed, To tins moment do not know how we
lived through the day. There we lay pant
ing, aud every now and then mOistennl
our lips from our scanty supply of water
Had we followed our inclnations we Shoult
have finished all we had off in the first two
hours, but we had 10 exercise the most rigid
care, for il our water failed us we knew
that we must quickly perish miscrably.
But everything has an end, il only YOU
live long enough 10 see IT, and somehow that
miserable day wore on toward evening
About three O'Clock in the afternoon we de
tcrmlned that we could stand il no longer.
Ii would be better TO die walking than to b.
slowly killed by heat and thirst in that
dreadful hole. So taking each of us a little
drink from our discriminating supply O,
water, now heated to about the same tenn
perature as a mans blood we staggered on
We had now covered some fifty miles OF
desert my reader will refer to the rough
copy and Translation of old Ia SilveStra' $
map he will see that the desert is marked
as being forty leagues across and the par
bad water" is set down as being about the
middle of IL, Now forty leagues is one hun.
drcd and twenty miles, consequently we
ought ut the most to be within twelve or lf-
teen miles of the water il any should exist.
Through the afternoon we Crcpt slowly
and painfully along, scarcely dong more
than mite and a half N hour At sunset
we again rested, waiting for the moon, and
after drinking 4 little managed TO get some
sleep.
Before we lay down Umbopl pointed ont
to MS a slight and indistinCt hillock on the
fiat surface of the desert about eight miles
away. At the distance 1t looked like an ant
HILL aud rs was dropping off to sleep fell
To wondering what it could be.
With the moon we started ON again, feel.
ing drcadiully exhausted, and suffering tor
lures from thirst and pricily heat Nobody
who has not tclt it can know what We went
through. We uo longer walked, we stag
xercd, nov md then again falling from cx.
hauSltou. and hCnL obliged To- call halt
w Z
lett in Us Ia speak. Up to now Good had
cha!tcd and jokcd. Tor he was merry Eel
low; but now he had not joke left IN him.
At last about two o'clock. utterly worn
out In body and mind, we came to the foot
of this queer hin, or sand koppie, which did
at first sight resemble a gigantic ant-hcap
about a hundred feet high and covering nj
the base nearly a morGcn (two acrcS) of
ground.
Here We halted, and driven by our dcs-
peratc thirst sucked down our last drops of
water. We had but half 4 pint head, and
we could have dranl, gallon
Then we lay down just rs | was drop.
png oh 10 sleep heard Umbopa remark 10
himself in Zulu:
III we cannot find water we shall all be
dead before the moon rises tomorrow.
Shuddcrcd, hot aS it was. The near pros
pect ot such an awful death is not pleasant
but even the Thought Of it could not keep me
from sleeping.
CHAPTER VI.
WATER! WATER!
In two hours time, about four o'clock,
woke up. As soon Us the first heavy demand
of bodily fatigue had been satisfied the tor
turing thirst from which WAS suffering as
serted itself could sleep no more. had
been dreaming that | was bathing in run
ming stream, with green banks and trees up
on them and | awoke to find myself in that
arid wilderness and 10 remember that as
mi .NVN h,l e,fA a